North Carolina officials say Union County's social services department will have to reopen or review a handful of cases of possible child abuse and neglect to make sure workers didn't mishandle them.

The renewed investigation efforts come as part of a state investigation launched after a county child welfare supervisor was charged with handcuffing her foster son to a porch with a dead chicken tied to his neck.

Union County asked the state Division of Social Services to review how local social services workers deal with adoptions, foster care and child protection.

County child protective services supervisor Wanda Larson and her boyfriend have been charged with child abuse. They were arrested in November after a Union County sheriff's deputy found the 11-year-old boy on the porch.